Big Kid to Big Cat

NICOLE ROACHE, MARKETING MANAGER

In one of his 13 or 14 interviews with AFL Clubs across the year, new Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell questioned Toby Conway’s (OGC 2021) humility. I think you’ll agree that it shines through as the big man speaks about his football future.

Touted as the number one ruck prospect in the 2021 draft, in late November he found his football home with the Geelong Cats, taken at pick 24 in the 2021 National Draft.

Not that it was a surprise to the pundits. Kevin Sheehan the AFL Talent Ambassador said of Toby. “He is a boy of 204cm who is really on track. He’s had a terrific year. The first number of games, before a break in the season, he was a very good player for the Falcons I like his ruck craft, he’s still developing that, he’s a very good mark around the ground, and he’s mobile, as big fellas have to be. I love the way he competes at ground level as well, the way he gets down to not just win the ball, but also to support the smaller players.” Toby is understandably excited about the opportunities ahead of him. “I couldn’t be happier really. Mitch Kevitt is a really good friend of mine too, so I am excited to be going there with him. I’ve had a lot of the players give me a call today and they’ve been really welcoming. I just can’t wait to get into it. We have training on Monday and a COVID-19 test tomorrow so I guess I’ll meet the players then as well which will be exciting.

The Cats have done really well. I know Cooper Whyte as well from the Falcons and he, and Mitch are great players, so it’s looking good for the future.” “In the next few years, I think I’ll just be pushing to be the best player I can be. I’m a pretty strong person at the moment as a young ruckman compared to where some others might be at my age, so I’ll just try and grow that, get my running up and work on my skills. It won’t be much different to other players I don’t think. I‘ll just be following orders… My development will be a bit delayed compared to the smaller blokes because ruckmen take a lot more time to reach their peak. I’ll just be trying to reach my potential as soon as possible.” No doubt the Cats saw strong qualities in Toby, as College Co-Vice Captain and Captain of the 1st XVIII. “I think as a person I am quite resilient. I’m good at overcoming adversity and that’s complemented by the balanced lifestyle I have. When footy isn’t going too well I’m able to find other things in my life that I can focus on and have a little bit of a break from footy, another outlet. I think that just adds to my footy.

As a footballer my strength would have to be my ruck craft. I really enjoy it and I think it is quite a good skill to have and something you can hone and work on by watching video footage. I don’t rest on my laurels. Just because I’m tall it doesn’t mean I’ll win every tap. When it gets to a high level you can get caught out if you just rely on your height, so I do really work on it.” But prior to the draft he wasn’t overly confident.

I’ve always said there are 20 picks on draft night, and I am a very, very long shot to be called out that night. If I go anywhere, I’ll go in the next rounds! And I was right. Being the number one ruck prospect in the draft didn’t really make me feel anything to be honest. I played in the Vic Country v Vic Metro game, and I won that contest pretty easily against the other ruckman just because I think they had seven or eight ruckmen who went in the mid-season draft, so I haven’t really got to play on any of those guys this year. They could have been better than me, but they got drafted so they’re not in consideration anymore. But I guess I’ll get to see how we stack up in the next few years. I’ll look forward to that.”

A true testament to the strength of football pathways in Geelong, Toby started at Auskick, played at Geelong Amateurs from Under 9s and moved across to St Mary’s when he started playing Under 14s. “My three siblings were at St Mary’s; it was a bit closer to home and I thought would be good to have a change. They (St Mary’s) were really good for me, I enjoyed playing there. In the Under 16s I made the Falcons squad, but I just wanted to be on the team. That year I decided to go to Fulfilling Lives because I didn’t think I would make the Victorian Country Squad, so I wrote it off, but then I made the squad, which was a big surprise – I thought the email got sent to the wrong person! It was kind of my break-out year because then I went on to make the All-Australian squad a month later.

School football too, was a big part of this young man’s story. “The balance between School footy and other commitments can be difficult. I played at four different standards this year and it was a week-to-week thing. One week I was playing Falcons and the next week I was playing for College. Then I had a Victorian Country game. It was a good challenge, having to adjust every game and trying to figure everything out. School footy was really important to me this year. I just wanted to get a win with my mates, we talked about it a lot. Both my siblings got wins and it was a really special day for them, so I was quite sad when I didn’t get one this year. We only lost to Wesley by four points when I wasn’t playing, so I was pretty annoyed about that. I was barracking passionately from the side, but it was frustrating not to be a part of it.

With Year 12, COVID-19, footy commitments and the draft combine, it’s been a big year for Toby. “At the draft combine we did a jump test, a standing jump where you just have to stand still and jump as high as you can and a running jump off your left and right foot. There was a 20m sprint and a 2km time trial, and then height and weight, hand and arm measurements and all of that side of things. I didn’t win too much except for the standing reach. I got a 7-minute, 27-second 2km time which was about 20 seconds behind the next worse person, so I wasn’t the most athletic person there, but I’m a ruckman so I guess I don’t need to be compared to most of the others.”

Toby not only loves football, but highperformance sport in general, and will look to study Sports Management alongside his football. “Hopefully I’ll do ok in my VCE. I considered teaching because my dad’s a teacher and I think that would be really fun and fulfilling, but at this stage though I’m looking at a highperformance sport career because after footy I’d have connections and it would be easier to get into that industry. I did well in VCE PE last year and I enjoyed studying it, which probably isn’t true for most of my subjects this year. There is a great course at Deakin Burwood, Sports Management and they have a good cloud campus so I should be able to do that course on the cloud and concentrate on my footy.